Bass Corner

Discographies show Rafik playing two sessions with Rahsaan Roland Kirk in 1963. Pianist Harold Mabern was on both sessions. Two other NYC musicians who were friends of ours, trumpeter Virgil Jones and drummer Walter Perkins, also recorded with Rafik and Kirk then, but both are deceased.

A dynamic force in improvised music, pianist Bertha Hope has been making headway in the jazz scene since the early 1960s. Raised in Los Angeles, Bertha attended Manual Arts High School. She began her jazz journey with pianists Elmo Hope and Richie Powell in her youth. Although she studied piano at Los Angeles Community College, she received her B.A. in early childhood education from Antioch College. She married Elmo in 1960; they moved to New York; Bertha worked as a telephone operator by day and performed at night.

New York native Bobby Porcelli is one of Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz's most accomplished flautists and alto saxophonists. An exciting soloist influenced heavily by Charlie Parker and Sonny Still, Porcelli's alto has soared gracefully above the legendary percussive ensembles of Machito (1965-1966), Mongo Santmaria ('87-'90), and Tito Puente ('66-'00).

A beloved pianist with one of the most easily recognizable styles, Bobby Timmons is responsible not only for bringing his unique gospel-tinged voice to the piano, but also for his funky compositional masterpieces that have become jazz standards, like Moanin’ and This Here (‘Dis Here). These two are by no means the only memorable original works of Bobby’s—nearly all of his works are instantly recognizable as a Bobby Timmons original, as they all have his signature style of soul, funk, and gospel, all while still maintaining the hallmarks of true hard-bop jazz.

Grammy Award-winner Brian Lynch is one of the most influential and well-respected trumpeters in both Latin and straight-ahead jazz. Brian grew up in Milwaukee and apprenticed with Midwest-based keyboardists Buddy Montgomery and Melvin Rhyne; he went on to earn his degree from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. After moving to New York in 1981, he earned his stripes working with jazz giants such as Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Barbarito Torres, and Phil Woods. Lynch recorded many records as a leader—23 since he began recording in 1986.

Bruce Acosta is an up and coming guitarist based in New York City. Born in Dubai, he grew up in Canada, Australia and Minnesota, picking up the guitar at age seven. As a high schooler, Acosta was selected for the Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony and the Minnesota All-State Jazz Band and recognized as a National YoungArts award winner.

Bassist Buster Williams is an iconic musician whose trademark sound and styling are present on over 300 recordings to date. Williams, known for his ability to simultaneously be insistent yet supportive, has been the bassist of choice for legends including Sarah Vaughan, Herbie Hancock, Mary Lou Williams, Hank Jones and even Ron Carter (in his two-bass "Piccolo" quartet). His prolific contributions in the recording studio range from dates with Nancy Wilson and Betty Carter to Art Blakey, Woody Shaw, Dexter Gordon and Miles Davis.

Butch Warren's discography speaks for itself, ranging from recordings with Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson and Donald Byrd, to name but a few. His began playing professionally at the age of 14 in his native Washington, D.C. with his father, Edward Warren. After becoming one of the most in-demand bassists in D.C., Warren moved to New York City in 1958 to where he quickly became recognized by Jackie McLean, Kenny Dorham and a long list of other contemporary musicians and producers.

Cecil McBee has been on the jazz scene for many years; he always plays marvelously in any style. Cecil is a true master of bass lines. His ballad accompaniment is exceptional, and studying and comparing his base lines on several recordings of his beautiful ballad Close To You Alone is a mind-opening experience.

Widely known as one of the most virtuosic bassists to come out of the 1970s, Charles Fambrough made his mark on the jazz scene when he started playing with Grover Washington, Jr.'s band in 1970. Getting the recognition he deserved from this gig, he joined McCoy Tyner and later joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Fambrough was known for his fearless conviction to whatever style of music he was playing, which led to a successful career in the Latin jazz world as well, performing with Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, and Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band. Fambrough was also known for his compositional skills, bringing many of his tunes into the band of the great musicians he played with. He is one of the great jazz musicians to have come out of Philadelphia.

It’s not simply his abundant virtuosity that has made Christian McBride the most in-demand bassist of his generation. McBride consistently combines his deft musicianship with an innate ability to communicate his enthusiasm to an audience—a warm showmanship that transforms his own passion into infectious joy. It comes across whether he’s leading his own bands; sharing the stage with jazz legends like Sonny Rollins, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock or Pat Metheny; accompanying pop giants like James Brown, Sting or The Roots; or collaborating with classical masters like Kathleen Battle, Edgar Meyer or the Shanghai Quartet.

Originally from Kansas City, MO, Curtis Counce moved to Los Angeles in 1945 where he became known as one of the great West Coast bassists. It was there he performed and recorded with all the top West Coast musicians of the time including Hampton Hawes, Shelly Manne, Shorty Rogers, and Stan Kenton. Counce also recorded six records as a leader, unlike most bassists of his time.

Daryl Johns was born in the Bronx and began playing bass at age seven with encouragement from his father, drummer Steve Johns, and his mother, saxophonist Debbie Keefe. Johns has studied with Chip Jackson and Dave Santoro. He has attended the Jazz in July program, the Vermont Jazz Center, and the Litchfield Jazz Camp. Johns sits in regularly around the New York area with musicians including Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, and Randy Brecker. He also performs throughout New York and New Jersey with a trio of his peers. Johns was featured on a Fox television segment called “12-Year-Old Jazz Prodigy."

David Friesen picked up the bass at age 19 when he began studying with a member of the Seattle Symphony while he was serving in the army. His career picked up in the 1970s when he toured with notable bandleaders such as Joe Henderson, Marian McPartland and Billy Harper. David has recorded over 65 CDs as a leader and co-leader.

Heralded by pianist Cedar Walton as the "brightest star on jazz piano's horizon," David Hazeltine is considered to be one of jazz's premier pianists as well as composer-arrangers. With a mantra to "swing as much as humanly possible," David's style is infused with influences of Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Buddy Montgomery, Barry Harris and Cedar Walton while still retaining his own fiercely individual voice. Hailing from Milwaukee, David made his professional debut on the organ when he was just thirteen years old.

Dennis Irwin played clarinet and alto saxophone early on but it was in college at University of North Texas that he found his true calling: jazz on the acoustic bass. His career began immediately, working with the great Red Garland, but Irwin quickly branched off working with Betty Carter, Art Blakey, Chet Baker, Horace Silver, John Scofield, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano and many others. Irwin also joined the Mel Lewis Orchestra, which eventually became the Village Vanguard Orchestra.

Don Friedman was only four years old, living in San Francisco, when he started playing his parents' piano. A year later, he started lessons with a private teacher. His love for jazz music was born when he moved to L.A. and heard the likes of Les Brown and Lee Konitz for the first time.

Saxophonist Lucky Thompson is one of the great musical treasures of jazz. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina, but was raised in Detroit, Michigan. He played in local groups with Hank Jones, Sonny Stitt and others. In August, 1943, when he was 19, he left Detroit with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra, eventually arriving in New York City. Still a teenager, his first recording date was with Hot Lips Page on March 18, 1944. Later in 1944 he started recording with both Lucky Millinder and Count Basie.

Born in 1956 in Nebraska to Nigerian parents, Essiet Essiet was first recognized for his work with Bobby Watson's group, Horizon. His career quickly grew as he performed and/or recorded with everyone from Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Freddie Hubbard, to Benny Golson, Kenny Barron, and Bobby Hutcherson. Essiet currently lives in New York City but can be heard performing just about anywhere in the world.

A lauded name on the jazz scene since the tender age of 17, Geoffrey Keezer is one of the best-loved pianists today. A native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Geoff took up the piano at age three and quickly showed himself to be a prodigy. As an eighteen-year-old freshman at Berklee College of Music in 1989, he was invited to join Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, launching his talents into the spotlight. The year before, his mentor James Williams encouraged him to record his debut album, the well-received "Waiting In The Wings." His career continued to take off in the early 1990s with a performance at the Hollywood Bowl of Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue (conducted by John Mauceri).

Revered for his impeccable intonation, inventive accompaniment and complete mastery of the bass's technical demands, George Mraz is one of the greatest bassists of the last fifty years. Mraz has such profound ears that he has been chosen by some of the greatest musicians in history: Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan to name but a few.

In 1953, Hank Mobley started his jazz recording career with dates for Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach. He continued playing and recording with Dizzy Gillespie through most of 1954. November 13, 1954, marked the first recording session of a new co-operative quintet called "The Jazz Messengers." The founding members of "The Jazz Messengers" were Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Horace Silver (piano), Doug Watkins (bass) and Art Blakey (drums). Horace Silver had the record deal with Blue Note records at the time, so the first 10" issue of this session came out as the Horace Silver Quintet. On February 6, 1955, the group did another 10" session which was first was issued as the Horace Silver Quintet, Volume 2.

The inventive and iconic pianist Herbie Hancock has a career that spans multiple decades and many genres. Not unlike his mentor, Miles Davis, Herbie has inspired new horizons in jazz music through his own transformations as an artist. An early piano prodigy who performed a piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11, Herbie began jazz piano in high school. His career began when he was discovered by Donald Byrd in 1960. Soon after, he was signed to Blue Note as a solo artist. In 1963, he released "Takin' Off," which included his famous composition Watermelon Man.

James Williams' distinguished career began in the city in which he was raised: Memphis, Tennessee. Having taken up piano at the age of thirteen, he graduated from Memphis State University in the early seventies and threw himself into his city's jazz community. Only a year after attaining his degree, Williams was hired as a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Coming to a new city opened up an entirely new scene for the young pianist, who began to play as a sideman for visiting artists like Red Norvo, Art Farmer, Sonny Stitt and Milt Jackson.

An important performer but decidedly less celebrated than deserved, Jimmy (James Bryant) Woode was a formidable presence in rhythm sections of bands lead by numerous jazz icons. A partial and curtailed list presents Sidney Bechet, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and for five years Duke Ellington.

Bassist Jon Burr's credits go on for miles. At the age of 16 Charles Mingus asked him to sit in on bass at the Village Vanguard. He has worked alongside many of the jazz giants while cultivating his own unique sound. His early discography includes recordings and performances with Buddy Rich, Chet Baker, Hank Jones, vocalists Eartha Kitt and Rita Moreno, and a five year tour with Tony Bennett and numerous Broadway credits.

Jon Davis has performed with and contributed compositions to many of the top jazz musicians worldwide throughout his career, which has spanned over 35 years, and has recorded many albums as a leader. Jon took up piano and guitar as a young teenager; he was inspired to play jazz after hearing records of Red Garland and Miles Davis. He briefly studied with Lennie Tristano then attended New England Conservatory, where his teachers included Ran Blake, Jaki Byard, and Madam Chaloff. After six months, he left to begin gigging around Boston.

Modern alto saxophonist and composer Jon Gordon is a driving force in cutting-edge jazz. A native New Yorker, he began his musical exploration at the age of ten, encouraged by his musical family. He attended Performing Arts High School and studied saxophone privately in his teen years and showed significant promise, winning numerous awards at a young age. His love for jazz began as a teenager after listening to a Phil Woods record; not long after, he began to study with Phil Woods himself after sitting in with Eddie Chamblee at Sweet Basil. Jon studied at Manhattan School of Music, during which time he worked with Roy Eldridge, Leon Parker, Doc Cheatham, Larry Goldings, Al Grey, Eddie Locke, Red Rodney, and Mel Lewis.

Hailing from Philadelphia, PA, Jymie Merritt grew up in good company, playing his first professional gigs with John Coltrane, Tadd Dameron, Benny Golson and Philly Joe Jones. Merritt is most known for his work with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers from 1957-1962. He also played with musicians such as blues guitarist B.B. King, trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lee Morgan, and led his band "The Forerunners" for several decades in his hometown of Philadelphia.

Kanoa Mendenhall was born in Yokohama, Japan and raised in Monterey, California. She grew up listening to jazz in the household, and was highly influenced by her father, jazz pianist Eddie Mendenhall. Kanoa started playing jazz and classical cello at age ten and the upright bass at age twelve. By age thirteen, she was playing regularly in the Monterey and San Francisco Bay areas, and has recorded and/or performed with musicians such as Lew Soloff, Allison Miller, the SFJAZZ Collective, Mark Sherman, Bruce Forman, Pheeroan akLaff, and Antonio Hart.

Trumpeter/composer Kenny Dorham was very much on the jazz scene from the mid-1940s through most of the 1960s. He worked and recorded with all the major figures in the modern jazz movement, which includes the legendary Billy Eckstine big band, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Max Roach as well as Kenny Clarke, Sonny Stitt, Fats Navarro, J.J. Johnson and many other giants of that period.

A forward-leaning yet strongly swinging modern pianist, Cochrane studied with the noted Boston-based piano teacher Madame Margaret Chaloff (mother of Serge Chaloff) and the inimitable Jaki Byard. In a fruitful career, he has performed and/or recorded with saxophonists Michael Brecker, Sonny Fortune, Oliver Lake, David Schnitter and Chico Freeman and trumpeters Clark Terry, Valery Ponomarev, Jack Walrath and Ted Curson; also bassist Eddie Gomez, as well as many others.

One marker of bassist Michael Formanek's creativity and versatility is the range of distinguished musicians of several generations he's worked with. While still a teenager in the 1970s he toured with drummer Tony Williams and saxophonist Joe Henderson; starting in the '80s he played long stints with Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Fred Hersch and Freddie Hubbard. (As a callback to those days, Formanek recorded with hardbop pianist Freddie Redd in 2013).

Oscar Pettiford's mother was Choctaw and his father was half Cheokee and half African American, making for an interestingly rich musical background. He grew up singing and playing piano in a family band before eventually switching to the bass at the age of 14. Pettiford was strongly influenced by the great Milt Hinton who helped convince Pettiford that if he continued to pursue music, he would make a successful career from it. Performing with Dizzy Gillespie helped Pettiford become recognized as one of the first bassists in the bebop world.

Bassist Paul Chambers was a leading rhythmic force in the 1950s and 1960s. He became one of the signature bassists in jazz history. Born in Pittsburgh but raised in Detroit, Chambers initially took up the baritone horn as a child. He followed suit with the tuba and didn't become interested in the string bass until 1949. Listening to Charlie Parker and Bud Powell and studying under a bassist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Chambers began making headway in small bars of Hastings Street area and doing club jobs with Kenny Burrell, Thad Jones and Barry Harris. He did classical work in a group called the Detroit String Band, a rehearsal symphony orchestra.

Born in London, saxophonist Ralph Moore came to the US and attended Berklee College of Music, where he studied with saxophonist Andy McGhee. Three years later he received the Lenny Johnson Memorial Award for outstanding musicianship from the college. He moved to New York City in 1981 and within two months had joined the Horace Silver Quintet for an association that lasted four years and included tours of Europe and Japan.

Ray Brown can be viewed as the paragon of the jazz bassist. His exceptionally driving yet steady sense of time is responsible for unleashing some of the most profound grooves in the history of the music. Brown's remarkable technical facility and harmonic sophistication enabled him to craft compelling bass lines that supported and shadowed the soloists' every move, no matter what direction they chose to go. In addition, Ray Brown is an innovator; he took Jimmy Blanton and Oscar Pettiford's conception and modernized it by increasing the length of his quarter note so that it reached its full value.This combination of smooth, long quarter notes with immense rhythmic intensity became the gold standard and a required treatment for bassists from the bebop era up to the modern day.

Following performances in his native Philadelphia with guitarist Tiny Grimes and as house pianist at the Blue Note Club with Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Miles Davis and others, Ray Bryant came to New York in the mid-1950s. His first jazz recording session in New York was with Toots Thielemans (August, 1955) for Columbia Records. That session led to his own trio sessions as well as sessions with vocalist Betty Carter for Epic Records in May and June ("Meet Betty Carter and Ray Bryant"). On August 5, 1955, Ray recorded with Miles Davis, and on December 2, 1955, with Sonny Rollins, both for Prestige Records. On April 3, 1956, Ray started his "Ray Bryant Trio" album for Epic Records, which contains his own first recording of his classic title Cubano Chant. Cal Tjader had recorded Cubano Chant earlier, on November 11, 1955, on Fantasy Records.

Ray Drummond is a bass player and educator with a prolific career. He is best known as a sideman and has appeared on over 300 albums, but he has eight albums as a leader under his belt and close to three decades of experience leading combos. Ray's musical life began at age eight when he took up the trumpet, but he switched to bass at 14. He attended Stanford Business School and worked in business while gigging on the side with musicians like Bobby Hutcherson and Tom Harrell. In 1977, he left the corporate world behind and moved to New York, where he worked with the biggest stars on the scene: Betty Carter, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis, Woody Shaw, Hank Jones, Jon Faddis, Milt Jackson, Johnny Griffin, Kenny Barron, Pharoah Sanders, and George Coleman.

Sam Jones was most known for his work with the great Cannonball Adderley but he played extensively with all the great bandleaders including Bobby Timmons, Ray Bryant and Kenny Dorham. His discography speaks for his versatility as he could mold to any situation, but Jones was most known for his strong, confident beat and great bass lines. These traits are what led to countless recordings with various leaders, (especially with Cannonball and Nat Adderley) as well as replacing Ray Brown in Oscar Peterson's trio from 1966-1970.

Clifton "Skeeter" Best was an American jazz guitarist. Best played in Philadelphia from 1935 to 1940, recording with Slim Marshall and Erskine Hawkins. In 1940, he joined Earl Hines's orchestra, playing with him until he joined the U.S. Navy in 1942. After the war, he played with Bill Johnson from 1945 to 1949.

While his virtuosic harmonica playing was featured on Sesame Street and Midnight Cowboy and his whistling on Old Spice advertisements, Toots Thielemans considered himself first and foremost a guitarist. Born in Brussels, Belgium in 1922, Thielemans got his start playing accordion as a child in his parents’ cafe.

5-time Grammy Award Winner, Vince Cherico, is the drummer for featured artists in today's Jazz and World music venues. From 1995 - 2006 he was the drummer with Ray Barretto & The New World Spirit, later The Ray Barretto Sextet, and developed his reputation in Latin Jazz while touring the world, recording 6 CD's and 2 Grammy nominations for Contact & Time Was,Time Is. Modern Drummer describes Cherico as, "a drummer of fluidity, fire, and physical ease" who "plays with balanced dynamics and a commanding yet sensitive touch."

Walter Booker, from Washington D.C., experimented first with the clarinet and alto sax, and didn't begin playing the bass until he joined the the U.S. Army band in 1959. After his discharge, Booker moved to New York City and began working immediately with the great trumpeter Donald Byrd. Walter quickly worked up the ranks and became a highly sought after musician, working and recording with greats such as Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins and pianist Ray Bryant. However, Booker's most significant relationship in music came when he joined Cannonball Adderley's Quintet in 1969. This version of the quintet helped lead the advent of "soul jazz" and gave Booker even more visibility, for they toured nonstop and released no less than eight albums between 1969-1975.

Wilbur Little was a wonderful bassist who came of age in the early 1950s under the prime influences of Jimmy Blanton, Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown. With his beat of swinging splendor and sense of harmonic and rhythmic daring, Little was able to contribute strongly in such well known recording sessions as Bobby Jaspar's "Blues for Tomorrow," Tommy Flanagan's "Overseas," J. J. Johnson's "Live at Café Bohemia."

Wilbur Ware's unique approach to the function of the bass in an ensemble has inspired countless musicians to play what they hear, even if it's not the most typical approach. Ware was renowned for his idiosyncratic yet immensely swinging beat that locked down the band rhythmically, as well as his highly creative harmonic sense. Wilbur's ability to play his "own notes," as bassist Ron Carter said, distinguished him from the other practitioners of his instrument. John Coltrane stated in an interview with August Blume, "Wilbur Ware, he's so inventive . . . He doesn't always play the dominant notes . . . He's superimposing things. He's playing around, under and over, so when he comes back you feel everything set in . . . A lot of fun playing that way."

Jones' sharp time-keeping and distinctive rhythmic expression are part of what make him one of the world's leading jazz drummers today. Willie Jones III's interest in jazz started at a young age when his father, a notable jazz pianist, introduced him to jazz music. After playing in his school marching band and jazz ensembles, Jones received a full scholarship to California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with James Newton and Albert "Tootie" Heath.

Yuriy Galkin was born in Russia into a family of musicians. He started to play classical piano at the age of 7, picked up electric bass by the time he was 15, and after only a few months of self-teaching he was able to play professionally. He became interested in jazz and was influenced by a number of great bassists including Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, Charles Mingus, Dave Holland, Niels Pedersen and John Patitucci. His imagination fueled by those great artists, Yuriy started practicing double bass and dedicated himself to the world of jazz music.